Beijing time on September 9 news, according to foreign media reports, informed sources revealed that in order to attract more new users for its online TV service, Amazon is seeking to obtain the copyright of various sports events, including the French Open and professional football matches.
According to anonymous sources involved in the negotiations, the world's largest online retailer has expressed interest in popular sporting events around the world, such as tennis, golf, soccer and motor racing. Amazon is also interested in popular sports events in the United States, such as basketball and baseball, although most of the related copyrights will be difficult to obtain for the foreseeable future.
By offering live sports, Amazon can give viewers content they don't have access to competing products like Netflix, while also undermining traditional media companies' grip on some of the most valuable TV content. Amazon has invested billions of dollars a year in providing TV shows and movies on demand, and since late 2015, it has also been exploring building paid live TV services.
In consultation with potential partners, Amazon highlighted the popularity of Amazon Prime, which currently has about 63 million U.S. users, according to analysts. Users pay $99 a year for the free two-day delivery service, which gives them access to Amazon Prime Video and additional subscriptions to Showtime, Seeso, Starz, and more.
Amazon declined to comment.
breakthrough
Allegedly, while the progress of copyright negotiations is unclear, Amazon does want to make a big splash in the field of sports content. The company hired former Sports Illustrated executive James DeLorenzo earlier this year to head its sports division. According to LinkedIn, former YouTube executive Charlie Neiman joined Amazon in May to oversee sports collaborations and business development.
In the field of sports, the main challenge is copyright. Sports content is the most expensive of all types of media content. Disney-owned ESPN spends nearly $2 billion a year on NFL (National Football League) rights alone.
Although the commercial TELEVISION rights of mainstream American sports events such as the NFL and the NBA have been locked in the next few years, Amazon may still find a breakthrough.
Some sports leagues like MLB (Major League Baseball) have their own networks and are already offering live streaming of games through their own apps and services. Amazon might be able to add that to Prime as an add-on service, like Showtime.
People familiar with the matter said the company also proposed to offer a selection of events in Prime Video. Viewers can get a reminder to start a particular game when they watch Amazon's original show, Transparent. The average sports fan will be content for free content that Prime brings, while the more avid sports fans will be willing to pay to watch it when they see attractive extra content.
Amazon is also said to have discussed accumulating enough rights to live events to offer separate sports products.
Traditional media companies are concerned
As TV viewers are in decline and people shift from pay-TV packages to streaming services, U.S. media companies have been clinging to sports rights in hopes of slowing the loss of TV viewers and maintaining their value to advertisers. CBS, NBCUniversal, Fox, Turner Sports and ESPN hold television rights to America's most popular sporting events, from the Super Bowl to professional bowling.
Tech companies are increasingly interested in getting involved in TELEVISION and video services, and they are increasingly eager to deliver sports content to their audiences. Twitter acquired video rights to several tournaments, including professional football. Amazon and Facebook have also sought to obtain those rights.
Netflix, the world's largest pay-per-view online television network, has been refusing to offer live sports. Ted Sarandos, the company's chief content officer, has repeatedly said he has no interest in live sports, saying the live nature of sporting events doesn't match the on-demand world his company has created.
In addition to the U.S., Amazon competes with Netflix in markets such as the U.K., Germany, and Japan. In these markets, sports such as soccer are much more popular than in the United States. (Compilation / Lao Liu)
This article was compiled by Phoenix Technology Lao Liu